University Information Policy Officers (UIPO) provides a confidential communication channel for librarians involved in scholarly communications and copyright issues to consult with one another across campuses. The group, which is comprised of copyright and information policy professionals who work in academic and research libraries, was started in 2008 under the auspices of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), spun out as a separate entity in 2020, and last year officially incorporated as its own 501(c)(3).
UIPO maintains a listserv, hosts webinars, and holds an annual conference (the next is May 21-23 in St, Louis), to discuss the evolving digital landscape. As part of its awareness building, the UIPO website was recently updated.
Copyright positions in libraries have become more prevalent in recent years, and many look to librarians for guidance on new requirements for information sharing. Now, with more than 100 members, it was time to transition to a more formalized structure, said Lisa Macklin, one of the original members of UIPO and university librarian at Emory University in Atlanta.
“Being incorporated means, perhaps, getting a little more name recognition, and being better positioned to have a broader influence,” Macklin said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, university faculty relied on libraries to provide digital learning materials and consulted with librarians on access to teaching materials and questions connected to copyright. Several UIPO members drafted the Public Statement of Library Copyright Specialists: Fair Use and Emergency Remote Teaching and Research on the importance of fair use which was signed by over 50 UIPO members and endorsed by almost 200 others in academic libraries and academia, Macklin said.
“UIPO is valuable because whatever I’m faced with, I know there is probably somebody else in the organization who has been walking the same path or had similar questions,” said Maryam Fakouri, chair of the UIPO board of directors and copyright librarian at the University of Washington.
Since becoming a designated nonprofit organization, UIPO has continued to be operated by volunteers. Its members span nearly 40 U.S. states and Canadian provinces, working in over 75 institutions. Membership dues are $85/per year, and membership is open to individuals (not institutions) who have some component of their job tied to information policy. It is designed to be a closed community of professionals in similar positions so that members can have candid, confidential conversations.
The UIPO website outlines rules for membership: Members must work at or substantially on behalf of academic institutions or research libraries; be directly responsible for copyright information policy and education (practitioners, not solely scholars); and demonstrate commitment to the interests of libraries and the public on matters of copyright.
Katie Zimmerman, chair elect of UIPO and director of copyright strategy at the MIT Libraries, said the organization has been a great resource to stay connected with colleagues and keep updated on copyright issues. “One of the big challenges that we’ve been facing is helping our users navigate AI,” she said. “Librarians are the interface between the user and the publisher around the use of library materials for AI – working with text and data mining and people who are using machine learning as part of their research.”
As UIPO moves into its next chapter as an incorporated entity, Zimmerman said, members are excited to have the ability to work with other organizations and projects on copyright education and library initiatives that advance the public interest. “It’s really important to have a community that can support you with this type of work,” Zimmerman said, especially as UIPO members often have to search outside their campus to find someone doing similar work.
Several UIPO members work at SPARC member institutions and, at times, agendas overlap. Fakouri said SPARC resources on new agency compliance with public access regulations have been particularly helpful to her and others in UIPO who are helping communicate compliance requirements for research sharing with their campuses.
For more information on how to join, see the UIPO application form.